Drama City
By George Pelecanos
Read by Chad Coleman
Time Warner AudioBooks, (2005)
An Abridged Recording on 5CDs
ISBN: 1-58621-728-3
Genre: Crime Fiction
Reviewed by Herbert White - March 9, 2005
Once again, George Pelecanos provides the reader with a gripping account of what life is like on the mean streets of Washington, D.C. In this novel, Drama City, Pelecanos examines the interactions between Lorenzo Brown, an ex-con who loves his job as an officer for the Humane Society, and Rachel Lopez, a parole officer who spends her nights drinking and whoring. Lopez is Brown's parole officer. He desperately needs her help to keep from falling back into the way of life that landed him in jail in the first place.
Lopez is also in desperate need of help. She alleviates the stress of her job by going on drinking jags and picking up men in bars to sweat out her frustrations with. If she doesn't get help soon, she might descend into a hell of her own making that she'll never be able to climb out of.
Pelecanos has created two unforgettable characters in Brown and Lopez. Pelecanos details their day to day life, their faults and personal failures, and their strengths. He paints a vivid picture of the hard world that they live in, and shows how they are inexplicably drawn together and forced to lean on each other when they fall afoul of two dangerous, rival drug gangs. Throughout this story you wonder if it is humanly possible for Brown say on the straight and narrow, and wether or not Lopez can redeem her own life. Energetically read by Chad Coleman, this audio edition of Drama City makes for spellbinding listening.
Please note: this novel contains adult material and may not be suitable for all readers / listeners.
Related Reviews:
Hard Revolution, by George Pelecanos.
A fast paced police thriller that intersects with the riots in Washington, D.C. after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Audio)
City of Bones, by Michael Connelly.
Los Angles Police Department Detective Harry Bosch finds himself trying to solve a murder that took place over twenty-years ago. The only clue he has when he first gets the case is a human bone dug up by a dog. The bone turns out to have been from a ten-year-old boy, and Bosch must find his killer before someone else dies... (Large Print)
